The damaging impacts
of corporate lobbying on international efforts to fight climate change
are exposed today with the announcement of the eight candidates for the
Angry Mermaid Award 2009.
(Source: CSR-NEWS, 16 November 2009)
Copenhagen / Brussels, Monday 16 November > The damaging impacts
of corporate lobbying on international efforts to fight climate change
are exposed today with the announcement of the eight candidates for the
Angry Mermaid Award 2009.

The Angry Mermaid Award is named after the iconic Copenhagen mermaid
who is angry about the destruction being caused by climate change.

Thousands of members of the public are expected to vote at www.angrymermaid.org
between today and Sunday 13 December for the candidate which they
believe has done the most to sabotage effective action to tackle
climate change.

Lobby groups representing oil, coal, aviation, the chemicals
industry and emissions trading are all on the shortlist for the Angry
Mermaid Award 2009, alongside biotech company Monsanto, oil giant Shell
and energy company Sasol.

The winner of the angry mermaid award will be announced at the Copenhagen climate talks on Tuesday 15 December 2009.

The eight nominees for the Angry Mermaid Award are:

• American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity – for pushing "clean"
  coal and for employing a lobby firm which ran a fraudulent letter
  writing campaign, sending fake letters to the US Congress on the US
  climate bill.
• American Petroleum Industry (API) – for spending millions of
  dollars on lobbying against US climate legislation, including setting
  up an "astroturf" campaign to create the illusion of strong grassroots
  opposition.
• European Chemical Lobby (Cefic) – for lobbying for free permits
  under the EU Emissions Trading Scheme, undermining the EU's main
  measure to cut carbon emissions
• International Air Transport Association (IATA) – for promoting weak
  voluntary efforts to cut emissions from aviation in an attempt to
  pre-empt international legislation.
• International Emissions Trading Association (IETA) – for promoting
  emissions trading and carbon offsetting as the solution to climate
  change, despite the lack of evidence of real emissions cuts.
• Monsanto – a biotech giant, for lobbying for carbon credits for
  genetically modified crops and promoting GM crops as a solution to
  climate change.
• Sasol – for lobbying for carbon capture and storage as a way to
  clean up synfuel manufacture – where coal is converted to petrol using
  vast amounts of energy and generating huge levels of carbon emissions.
• Shell – for lobbying for financial and political support for carbon
  capture and storage while investing massively in environmentally
  destructive oil extraction from the Canadian tar sands.

Paul de Clerk from Friends of the Earth International, one of the groups organising the awards, said:

"All the candidates for the Angry Mermaid Award have lobbied to
protect their own profits and prevent effective action to tackle
climate change. As world leaders struggle to reach agreement on cutting
greenhouse gas emissions, the influence of major polluters and
lobbyists, and many others, needs to be exposed. We cannot tackle
climate change and continue with business as usual – and that is what
these companies and lobby groups want to do."

The Angry Mermaid Award is organised by Attac Denmark, Corporate
Europe Observatory, Friends of the Earth International, Focus on the
Global South and Spinwatch.